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Want Skrillex To Play Your Party For Free? Build a Space Whale

Skrillex is well known for his love of Burning Man, frequently playing sets on some of the biggest stages on the playa (and occasionally some small ones too).

This year he is contributing his talents to a massive art project created by The Pier Group and artist Android Jones. The Space Whale will be a life sized 50-foot tall sculpture of a mother humpback whale and her calf. It will be made of steel and stained glass - 2,200 stained glass panels, with over 80,000 individual pieces of glass.

To raise money to fund the project, Skrillex will be performing for free at a fundraiser event in Reno, NV, on May 27th along with Vindata, Psy-Fi, and Richard Xavier.

According to the Reno Gazette-Journal, Sonny will also be creating "ambient, creative, reflective" music that will accompany the sculpture when it is displayed.

"It's hard to even find the words for it. He's super engaged with Burning Man and the arts community,” said Matt Schultz, lead artist for the “Space Whale," of Skrillex.

"He cares. He really loves the art, the experience and the creative energy of Burning Man,” Schultz said of Skrillex. "We got together last year, and he offered to throw a show for us. It's enormous."

The description of the project from The Pier Group's website indicates that The Space Whale is intended as more than a simple art project, but as a focal point for discussions about physics, environmentalism, and the place of humans in the natural world.

The duo sing whale songs at the same frequency and decibel level as real whales, creating an ethereal experience for participants, as they feel the gentle songs move subsonically through their bodies and the surrounding earth. As the sun moves through the piece, beautiful, refractive light will dance around the base of the whales, creating an ever-changing experience. At night, internal light guides participants through the story written in glass, as they listen to physics lectures on space, matter and time. Creating a gathering point for scientists, artists, engineers and environmentalists to discuss the great ideas and marvel at the beauty of our natural world.

The whales diving through our atmosphere down to the playa create a direct reference to the changing nature of space over time, with the Black Rock moving from a massive inland sea to a barren desert. The enormous scale of Humpback whales help us relate both to the vastness of space, and the beauty of the life. The murals in glass tell the story of space and time, bringing light to complex scientific topics. While the songs of whales, and the voices of physicist tie the analogies together creating a space in which physics becomes simple to understand and perceive.The Space Whale is art for social and scientific change. A focal point to inspire the dreamers, thinkers and builders to convene, discuss and build our future together.